Send It On
by LuckyxLabradoodlexLoverx7
Summary: AU: Takes place a year after A Pebble In The Water Can Make A Wave.  Roger and Maureen attend a fundraiser to raise money for the oil spill.  Set to the song Send It On by Disney's Friends for Change.  Takes place in 2010.  ONE-SHOT.  Rated T for safety.


Disclaimer – I own nothing of RENT or the song Send It On. Both of them belong to their respected owners. 'Nuff said.

_**Italics **_are song lyrics, thoughts and flashbacks.

A/N: I was listening to this song and I got the idea for it. I will update my chapter stories – just struggling with writer's block. The caterpillar/butterfly analogy was the clever idea of my good friend Marie S Zachary.

Summary: AU: Takes place a year after A Pebble In The Water Can Make A Wave. Roger and Maureen attend a fundraiser to raise money for the oil spill. Set to the song Send It On by Disney's Friends for Change. Takes place in 2010. ONE-SHOT. Rated T for safety.

Genre: Family/None

Rating: T

* * *

"Hey Rog." Maureen greeted Roger as she and Joanne entered the loft. Roger looked up from his guitar and smiled at his friends.

"Hi girls. Gavin's still down for his nap, so don't do anything too loud, okay?" Roger told his friends, not bothering to look up from his guitar.

"Where's Mimi?" Joanne asked. Only then did Roger look up from his guitar, his eyes red and puffy from crying.

"She died three days ago – complications from HIV." Roger croaked. Maureen and Joanne looked at each other before hugging their friend. Roger shrugged them off just as Mark, Alex and their family entered.

"Hey all – what's going on?" Alex asked, carrying Annessa in her arms while Mark held the hands of Grace and Jeremy.

"We found out that Mimi died three days ago." Maureen blurted, not bothering to say 'hi' to the Cohen family. That's when she saw Annessa, Grace and Jeremy's eyes get big and their lips tremble.

"Auntie Mimi went bye-bye?" Annessa asked, climbing out of Alex's arms and made her way over to Roger and hugged him. Mark glared at Maureen as he and Alex calmed Grace and Jeremy down.

"Thanks sweetie." Roger thanked Annessa as he heard Gavin calling for him. Roger then turned to Maureen, eyes narrowed. "Gavin knows nothing of Mimi's d-e-a-t-h, so keep your mouth closed."

In Gavin's room, Roger woke up his son and changed his diaper.

"I want mommy to change me." Gavin told Roger, his green eyes narrowing.

"Mommy went shopping with Aunt Angel and won't be home until later." Roger explained, getting Gavin a clean pair of shorts.

"Okay." Gavin said, hugging Roger around the neck. Roger hugged Gavin back and carried him out to where everyone was.

As the kids played in the playroom (closely watched by Mark and Joanne), Roger made his friends coffee and motioned for them to sit down.

"Rog, when were you going to tell us that Mimi died?" Maureen asked, taking a sip of her coffee.

"I don't know – I was going to give it a week. I'm not over it myself. It's really hard, you know." Roger's eyes filled up with tears. "I have to keep lying to Gavin, telling him where Mimi is – shopping, at school, at work – I feel _awful _lying to him." Roger let out a loud sob as Alex pulled him into a hug, rubbing his back and held him like she would hold one of her kids.

After a while, everyone left, leaving Roger alone with Gavin. It was time to tell him the truth. As Roger fixed Gavin dinner (chicken, green beans and mashed potatoes), Roger thought of how to start off the conversation. He then got a green crayon and drew a picture of a caterpillar on Gavin's napkin.

"What you doin' daddy?" Gavin asked, watching Roger draw the caterpillar on his napkin.

"You see this caterpillar? It looks small right here, but then there comes a day when the caterpillar gets bigger. It grows into a cocoon and the cocoon holds it for a while. But then she turns into a beautiful butterfly. But because she's a butterfly now she can't stay so she has to fly away. Mommy is now like a beautiful butterfly and we're caterpillars. We'll see her when we become butterflies, too." Roger explained the best he could. Gavin pushed his food away and climbed onto Roger's lap, sobbing softly. Roger sang a little bit of Butterfly Fly Away as he changed Gavin, put him in his pajamas and put him in his Toy Story bed. He kissed the top of Gavin's head and exited the room, closing the door behind him. Roger cleaned up the playroom a bit, watered the plants and did the dishes. When that was done, he ordered a pizza and wrote in his journal while he waited for the pizza to come.

Just then, Roger's cell rang. Cursing under his breath, he answered it.

"What?"

"Roger?" Maureen's excited voice was on the other end. Roger sighed and sat down on a chair, jumping when he sat on a squeaky toy.

"Maureen? What is it?"

"I have a really good idea – what about having a fundraiser for the oil spill. I mean, volunteering last year really opened my eyes to what people can do to help. I was thinking that you and I could sing something."

Roger pondered for a moment, pen in his mouth – this was actually a really good idea.

"Maureen, that's actually not a bad idea. I'll write the song and you could come over while Joanne's at work and we could practice singing it."

"The Oil Spill Festival is in a month, so we have until then to do something."

"I wrote Your Eyes in a day, so this shouldn't be too hard." Just then, Roger thought of an idea for the song. "Maureen, think about this for a first line of the song – A word's just a word 'til you mean what you say. And love, isn't love 'til you give it away."

"I like that. I've gotta go now. Bye." With that, Maureen hung up the phone. Roger hung the phone up too and was about to write in his journal when there was a knock at the door – his pizza was here. Roger paid the pizza delivery person and carried the pizza to the table, sliding the door shut behind him.

"_A word's, just a word, 'til you mean what you say  
And love, isn't love 'til you give it away  
We've all gotta give  
Give somethin' ta give, to make a change_." Roger wrote down in the journal, taking a bite of pizza. He jotted down the rest of the song and within the hour, he was done.

A month later, The Oil Spill Festival snuck up on Roger like a slow fog. Roger was up, showered, dressed and eating breakfast by the time Gavin woke up, which was between seven-thirty and eight AM.

"Hi buddy." Roger greeted Gavin as he picked up his still sleeping three-year-old and placed him on the changing table. Roger changed and got Gavin dressed, talking to him about what was going to happen that day. Roger would be at the festival all day, so Gavin was spending the day with the Cohen family, who would be at the festival after Gavin and Annessa took their naps.

"What do you want for breakfast, sweetie?" Roger asked, sitting Gavin in front of the TV and turned it to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse – Gavin's favorite show.

"Waffles and bacon please daddy." Gavin said, not taking his eyes off the TV. Roger fixed Gavin some breakfast and put it on Gavin's favorite plate and poured him a cup of milk.

Once Gavin was done eating, Roger dropped him off at the Cohen house before heading to the festival, which was being held at the fairgrounds. Roger and Maureen would be performing on the Main Stage – their opening act a Country duo called Max and Irma. Roger and Maureen smiled as they shook hands with Irma and Max.

"How many songs are you singing in your set?" Maureen asked Max.

"We usually sing between ten and twenty, but today, we'll be singing fifteen of our favorites. What about you?" Max inquired, his blue eyes sparkling.

"We're just singing one – it's a song that Roger wrote. When that's done, Roger will be singing some of his favorite songs that he wrote." Maureen explained a little too quickly. Roger could tell that she was hyped up on caffeine.

"Good luck." Irma told them as she headed onto the stage to rehearse, followed by Max. They rehearsed their songs – Maureen and Roger found out that they were a kid's country duo and Roger thought that Gavin would enjoy the songs they sang.

"_Send it on, on and on  
Just one can heal another  
Be apart, reach a heart  
Just one spark starts a fire  
With one little action  
The chain reaction will never stop  
Make it strong  
Shine a light and send it on_

_Just smile and the world will smile  
Along with you  
That small act of love  
Stands for one became two  
If we take the chances  
Change circumstances  
Imagine all we can do  
If we_

_Send it on, on and on  
Just one that can heal another  
Be a part, reach a heart,  
Just one spark starts a fire  
With one little action  
The chain reaction will never stop  
Make it strong  
Shine a light and send it on_." Roger and Maureen sang, looking at each other once in a while. Roger strummed his guitar while Maureen played the harmonica during an instrumental break. Seth, the sound check guy, gave Maureen and Roger the thumbs up as they sang. They looked at each other and hurried off the stage, hoping to enjoy the festival before they had to sing.

"Definitely not going on that." Maureen pointed to a green and purple ride that the workers were setting up – it looked like a giant yo-yo.

"That looks like fun." Roger said, looking at the body of a swinging pirate ship. They also saw a carousel, two roller coasters, a hang gliding ride that looked like fun, the skeleton of a giant slide and three Ferris wheels. For the kids, there were a train, a balloon ride and bumper cars. Roger looked at his watch – it was almost ten o'clock. The festival would be opening at noon and closing at ten. Roger and Maureen were scheduled to sing between five and five thirty, which gave them plenty of time to ride a few rides and hang out with everyone.

"_Send it on – oh send it on  
And there's power in all of the choices we make,  
So I'm starting now there's not a moment to waste!_" Maureen sang later that night. The audience was going crazy with the song. Roger was so happy he wrote it in time for the festival.

"_A word's just a word  
Til you mean what you say  
And love, isn't love 'til you give it away_." Roger and Maureen crooned into the mic. Roger would never admit this out loud, but Maureen wasn't half-bad to work with.

"_Send it on, on and on,  
Just one that can heal another,  
Be a part, reach a heart  
Just one spark starts a fire!  
With one little action  
The chain reaction will never step!  
Make it strong,  
Shine a light and send it on_." Roger and Maureen crooned into the mic in front of them. Roger stopped playing his guitar and had the audience clap along to the song. Everyone followed suit and clapped along, making the smile on Roger's face turn into a grin. He stepped away from the mic and let Maureen scat a little bit. Surprisingly, she was a pretty good scatter.

"_Just one that can heal another  
Be a part, reach a heart  
Just one spark starts a fire!  
With one little action  
The chain reaction will never stop  
Make it strong  
Shine a light and send it on  
Shine a light and send it on  
Shine a light and send it on_." Roger and Maureen sang in unison. The audience was still clapping in rhythm to the song well after the song was after.

Two years after the festival, Roger fell in love and married a young woman named Laurie. She and Roger met at a small bar where Roger was playing a gig. Laurie had a little girl that was Gavin's age named Sara. Sara and Gavin instantly hit it off and so did Laurie and Roger.

Mark was happy that Roger had finally found someone to spend the rest of his life with. Mark was still madly in love with Alex and their four kids – Grace, Jeremy, Annessa and newest edition – a baby boy named Jackson.

Maureen and Joanne were wed and welcomed twin girls via a surrogate. They named the girls Melina Rachel and Anna Ray. Maureen and Joanne couldn't be happier than they were.

Unfortunately, with happiness comes sadness:

Four months after Roger and Laurie were married, Roger passed away from HIV, which was hard on everyone, especially Laurie, Sara and Gavin. Laurie took it upon herself to raise the kids by herself – she didn't need a man in her life.

Tigger – the orange tabby Mark and his family adopted four years ago – passed away from feline leukemia. He was seven years old.

There's only us, there's only this  
Forget regret or life is yours to miss  
No other road, no other way  
No day but today


End file.
